Getting your player ready...
Your résumé is your first chance to grab a recruiter or hiring manager’s attention. But you don’t want to be remembered for the wrong reasons.
That happens more often than you might think. In the last month, Donna Svei of Los Angeles-based AvidCareerist says she has seen lots of things that make résumés look outdated: A rotary telephone icon next to an applicant’s phone number, an envelope or stamp icon next to the physical mailing address, and when it comes down to it, the physical mailing address itself. “It’s unlikely that a prospective employer is going to mail you anything,” she says. “It’s irrelevant.”
When your résumé looks outdated, you raise concerns about your own professional expertise, Svei says. “Those aren’t good signals to send to prospective employers.”
Even if it’s been only a few years since you last looked for a job, there may be things on your C.V. that you might as well have written on a typewriter. Avoid these five things that can make your resume look outdated.
1. It’s an epic. Of course, you want to include as much relevant information as possible, but the key idea here is “relevant.”
Rambling on and on about every job you’ve ever had, going back to lifeguard during summer vacation in high school, is only going to make it harder for the recruiter to find the information about how you doubled sales every quarter for a year at a software startup.
In most cases, you want to “limit your résumé to one page and use sharp keywords that grab a recruiter’s attention,” says Alexa Merschel, U.S. Campus Recruiting Leader at PwC.
2. It lists an objective. This darling of earlier résumé times is now seen as a has-been, experts say. Your objective, current thinking goes, is to get the job you’re applying for—and by applying, you’re stating that objective. And including an objective section on your résumé screams desperation, says Brenda Collard-Mills, owner of Robust Resumes and Resources in Wasaga Beach, Ontario. Today, your résumé should be all about marketing yourself, Collard-Mills says.
Focus on a personal statement that brands your experience, talents, accomplishments and value you can bring to a future employer, maybe something like ‘Persistent and aggressive president’s club sales hunter’ or an ‘Orchestrator of awesome events and social media campaigns.’
3. It brags about the basics. If you highlight skills and accomplishments that are now considered givens, it may signal to hirers that you haven’t made an effort to learn new things.
4. It touts ‘References available upon request.’ “This statement is a given and won’t be found on any current résumés,” says Adrienne Tom at Calgary-based Career Impressions. If you’re applying for jobs, you should have references.
5. It lacks social profile links. In many fields, social media has become the go-to way for establishing expertise. And employers are definitely looking to see you can play that game. “For many types of job roles, I look up the social media presence of candidates,” says John Boese, founder of EliteHired.com in New York City. “If you don’t have a website, LinkedIn or Twitter link in your résumé, it tells me that you either don’t know social media or don’t know how to write a modern résumé.”
– Copyright 2014. Monster Worldwide, Inc. All Rights Reserved. You may not copy, reproduce or distribute this article without the prior written permission of Monster Worldwide. This article first appeared on Monster, the leading online global network for careers. To see other career-related articles, visit career-advice.monster.com.
